Want to Make Home-made 'Za

[asphaltgambler]

Hey all another food question..............yes...... I know..... I'm bored and it's cold outside

There is nothing but sub-par s**ty pizza pizza from both chain and mom & pop's near and around us. There is 1 joint we worship for their pie, but it is almost an hour from us and not really doable frequently due to our busy schedule.


Sooooooooooo.... we'd like to try at home by first purchasing a ready made dough, thin crust variety (at least for now) and then make a 'Supreme' version. IE: sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, sauce, cheese.

I'm really looking for someone here who has tried several different ready-made dough and bottled sauces.... There is just about every grocer you can think of with-in 10 miles of us to buy from.

Thanks!

[pavulon]

subscribing.

[scottmandue]

Is there an Italian deli any where near you?
They usually sell pizza dough.
Don't waste your time with the Pillsbury pizza dough... it is like a sheet of white bread (bleh!)
Pizza dough is not hard to make... but it is time consuming...
We are spoiled that we have two place that sell the dough close by (also good for making fruit tarts) not to mention a half dozen mom and pop pizza joints that sell stellar pizza.
If you can find dough I just use jarred spaghetti sauce, cheese (mozzarella of course) , and toppings. Oregano is optional but IMHO it makes the pizza.

[MikeSid]

Pizza is very personal, but this is what I do.

Dough:
Step one, buy a cheap digital food scale. Then mix the following:
500g flour
350g h2o
3g yeast
5g Na

It will be sticky and pretty wet. Flour your hands and put the dough in a olive oiled large (5qt) Tupperware container. Let it sit for a couple hours, punch it down, fold into a ball again, put it back in the container and put it in the fridge overnight. Tomorrow you will have enough for two large dough balls.

This takes me about 15 minutes of active time. If you want to make pizza right away, let it rest for 3 hours and just use it. The dough will be more delicate, but it will be fine.

Don't roll it. Ever. Just stretch it on a floured surface. If it is cold - like right out of the fridge, you will need to let it get to room temperature to be able to stretch it. Don't rush this.

Sauce:
Use a small amount of a jarred sauce you like. I use fresh tomatoes peeled with a little salt and pureed with a stick blender. Toss on some fresh basil. But using a jar of a simple marinara that you like will be just fine. It's your pizza, eat what you like.

Topping:
Again - use what you like. But resist the urge to make a 10 topping monster. With good ingredients, less really is more. I understood this concept immediately (who wouldn't) but it really took me years to overcome the urge to add a couple extra slices of pepperoni, etc. Really, less is more, trust me. Limit your toppings to 2 and only use a small amount of each.

Cheese:
Whole milk mozzarella. Fresh is great. Buffala is even better. But if you're just getting stuff from the typical grocery, a ball of mozz is fine, just look for whole milk. Partial skim will work, but really whole is better and melts really nice.

Parmesan:
Don't let a green can near your pizza. On this there can be no disagreement and I don't care what your personal preference is. Buy a small hunk of good Reggiano Parmesan. You'll only grate a little on top (I actually use it closest to the sauce) but it is one of the few ingredients that makes such a difference, I would insist on using this and no substitute.

Books are written on this subject. It's a lot like poker. Easy to learn, difficult to master, but fun no matter how good you are.

[MikeSid]

One more thing... invest in a pizza/bread stone. Cook in a 500 degree oven.

If you can't find a stone, get some fire bricks from Home Depot and arrange them on a baking sheet. Heat the stone in your oven from cold to 500. Place the pizza with a peel.

[creaturecat]

you gotta make your own dough, as per MikeSid's instructions. otherwise it isn't really home-made pizza.

[MBAtarga]

Someone here was making their own pizza oven weren't they?

edit - yep:
Semi Portable Pizza Oven

[Ziggythecat]

The best site on the web for all things pizza is:

Pizzamaking.com.

[greglepore]

Most pizzeria's will sell dough.

I'm a pizza geek. The 2 secrets to good dough-mix 75% of the flour, all of the water and yeast and let sit for 20 min. Then, add remainder and knead. Put in an oiled container and let cold rise in the fridge for 2-3 days. Killer dough.

[javadog]

One thing I'd recommend to the above is to use high quality meats. Don't buy generic pepperoni and sausage from a grocery store, seek out the good stuff. I like to use slicers and mandolins to slice things the thickness that I want and to make them all the same. As you get experience, you'll learn what thicknesses work best. You don't want the toppings to be overcooked before the rest of the pie is done.

Consider fresh herbs (oregano, marjoram, basil) as opposed to dried herbs. I like sauce made from canned San Marzano tomatoes better than fresh ones. I buy Italian brands. I also buy good quality olive oil.

JR

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by MikeSid

One more thing... invest in a pizza/bread stone.

pizza stone makes the best crust...even the groc store unbaked turn out great.

[2porscheguy]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

Someone here was making their own pizza oven weren't they?

edit - yep:
Semi Portable Pizza Oven

OR....get one of these:



PizzaQue Outdoor Portable Outdoor Pizza Oven

Although they are meant for "camping", we use ours all year long. It heats up to 700F in about 15 minutes and cooks a heavenly pizza-oven style Za in around ten minutes...fantastic crust! Mammmma Miiia!!!

....about $250....

[wdfifteen]

The best pizzeria around here uses straight tomato paste for sauce, spread on very thinly. They shake some Italian spices mix and garlic powder on top, then add the cheese and toppings.

[djmcmath]

First: The stone is obsolete. Use a steel. I cooked on stone for years, then discovered half inch thick sheets of steel. I have a Dough Joe steel, and it's AMAZING: I go from raw to perfect in 4-5 minutes. This was seriously the number one thing that changed my pizza from "really good" to "absolutely mastered." The principle is really about heat transfer: a proper brick oven in a commercial joint in Italy will be run at 1000F, which yields a 3-5 minute cook time. Tragically, that's just infeasible in a home setup. However, you can move a lot more heat into your pizza if you use something that's got a higher heat transfer coefficient. Like steel. So I'm literally getting 1000F results out of a 500F oven.

Real mastery of the pizza steel will also require a pizza peel, which is like a giant spatula. You lay out your dough on the peel, toss on your sauce/toppings/cheese, then transfer the raw pizza onto the hot steel. It takes some practice, and you'll screw up a few pizzas doing it, but once you get it right, it'll feel great every time and impress anyone who's watching.

Second: Sauce is really easy, and there are a lot of good recipes. My personal favorite is to start with about half an onion, sautéed in olive oil until translucent (just before they start to brown). Add a big spoon full of fresh chopped garlic, then add tomato sauce. I prefer to use fresh blended tomatoes if I can get them, but canned sauce works surprisingly well. Add a little salt and some basil to taste. I like to let that cook down for a few hours, but it works fine used immediately as well.

Third: I know that I should make my own dough, but it's really easy to just grab pre-made dough balls from the local Safeway. They're like $3 each, and they come out well enough that people think I'm a cooking genius. I save hours of prep time and can pick up pizza stuff on the way home from work. Simple.

That said, if what you want is a classic supreme deep dish, get a deep dish pizza stone and make thick pies. That'll be more akin to a chicken pot pie, in terms of cooking science, than like the thin crust pizza I typically do. Not to say that one is less good than the other -- I'd hate to cast aspersions on another man's pizza -- but it's just a different thing.

[Christien]

You can also try grilling the pizza on the BBQ. Crazy, I know, but it works. Brush the grills generously with olive oil first. Medium to medium-low heat - you want the stuff on top to soften and melt before you burn the bottom. It's easy to screw up, but amazing when you nail it.

I'd also recommend the raw dough balls from the grocery store. We've done homemade dough and just use the grocery store stuff. It's 90% as good for a lot less work.

In an oven definitely go with a stone, though I'm intrigued about this pizza steel. Seeing as our stone broke recently, maybe I'll try one of those instead.

[GH85Carrera]

Back in my early days when I was a very broke single dude I would buy the Kraft Pizza in a box. It had the dough mixed up as a dry powder. Add water and roll out and wait for it to rise. It came with some pitiful sauce but it was not hard to spice it up some. I always added a lot more ingredients. It and one beer was my Friday night treat after living on 50 cents a day food cost. I don't miss being very broke.

I don't remember what it cost back then but it was cheap.

I am too lazy to make my own now. The great pizza place is just 4.5 miles from my house.

Kraft | Pizza Mix | Best Price $7.98 | Canadian Favourites BEST PRICES for ALL your Kraft Pizza Mix

I think this is the same stuff.

[Crowbob]

I'm partial to Detroit style pizza with thick, very well-oiled dough that is crunchy on the edges, tons of white cheddar/mozzarella (sliced not grated). Sauce needs a bunch of oregano no matter what brand. My last batch was undercooked on account of the Spartans got me so depressed I had to eat something immediately to ease the pain.

[djmcmath]

Originally Posted by Christien

You can also try grilling the pizza on the BBQ. Crazy, I know, but it works. Brush the grills generously with olive oil first. Medium to medium-low heat - you want the stuff on top to soften and melt before you burn the bottom. It's easy to screw up, but amazing when you nail it.

I've done pizza on the grill. Tips and tricks:

- Pre cook the dough just a little bit. Like a minute or so on each side at 300F on a stone in the oven. Then leave them on wax paper until you're ready to use them.
- Use a stone. I've tried cooking on an open grilling surface and it's just hard to get it right.
- If you have two stones, and can figure out a way to cook BETWEEN the stones, you are the man. One guy picks up the lid, a second picks up the upper stone, and a third drops the raw pizza on to the cooking stone. It's non-trivial, but if you can do it that way, you can cook hot and fast and get wood-fired brick oven results. Otherwise, the slow-cook method works much better.

In an oven definitely go with a stone, though I'm intrigued about this pizza steel. Seeing as our stone broke recently, maybe I'll try one of those instead.

Seriously, give it a shot. If you've got some skill with transferring raw pizzas from one place to another, you're likely to be amazed by the results. I'll post pictures next time I make pizza.

[asphaltgambler]

Thanks all for the great suggestions - We'll go to Wegman's this weekend and start the process - we do have a baking stone and our oven goes to 550, that's a good start - will let you know!

[pavulon]

As previously mentioned below and on "America's Test Kitchen"

Super peel:
https://www.americastestkitchen.com/products/2544-super-peel-by-exo-products-inc

Baking steel:
The Pizza Lab: The Baking Steel Delivers | Serious Eats